


Love is Love at Hawkins High

by gaycleric



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bisexual Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Bisexual Mike Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper Without Powers, F/M, Gay Will Byers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lonnie and Neil Suck, M/M, Mileven at the beginning but Byler is endgame, Not Canon Compliant, Will Never Befriended Mike, Will and Max are Best Friends, no upside down
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 20:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20032180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaycleric/pseuds/gaycleric
Summary: Everyone in Hawkins knew Will Byers was strange.He liked drawing and listening to music. Will never played sports like the other boys his age; he hardly liked going outside if he could avoid it.Will Byers also hated Mike Wheeler...?





	Love is Love at Hawkins High

Everyone in Hawkins knew Will Byers was strange.

He liked drawing and listening to music. Will never played sports like the other boys his age; he hardly liked going outside if he could avoid it. It was safer and more secure at his home, especially after being abused and sick most of his early teenage years.

His stepsister-to-be also didn’t help his credibility.

Jane, or El as she was often called, was the adopted daughter of Chief Jim Hopper, who had taken her in after she ran away from her abusive father at age eleven. At the time, Will had asked her for her name. When she had misheard him and said her age instead, the nickname stuck. Will knew Eleven through his mom’s (at the time) friendship with the chief, so the two were fairly good friends. Eventually, once she started attending school with him, she didn’t hang around him anymore. He had expected as much, though. Mike Wheeler and his friends were much more interesting than Will was. But word of Hopper and his mother’s engagement spread like wildfire and when people connected the dots, he got some strange looks for a bit. 

Look, it wasn’t Will’s fault El had a shaved head and wore baggy clothes that were hand-me-downs from Joyce and Hopper. By fifteen El had cute curly hair and wore overalls and flannel, and was content that way. Will wasn’t going to judge. She had a boyfriend and he didn’t, he had no room to judge.

When he had been kidnapped by Lonnie at age twelve El had been the only one outside his family to really worry about him. With her pushing to find him and her friends out looking as well, the chief managed to find Will. Unfortunately, the court decided to give Lonnie _ more _visitation with his sons. They saw the kidnapping as the act of a man desperate to see his son, not the actions of a man who just wanted Will doing his house work since Joyce wasn’t there.

So for the past few years, Will and Johnathan had been alternating, spending one week with Lonnie and then one week with Joyce, excluding the week Will had incredibly bad pneumonia in eighth grade. All in all it wasn’t too hard physically, since Lonnie still lived close enough to Hawkins that travelling to school wasn’t too difficult. Emotionally was another story...

“And so I told Jessica that-... Will? Are you listening?” Will shook his head a bit, shaking himself out of his thought, and looked up at Max who was weaving some strands of bright blue and green rubber bands around his wrist. Her own bracelet, bright pink and green, had been crudely clipped on her own wrist by Will himself only a few minutes ago. She had begged Will to let her make matching friendship bracelets for them since they became best friends when they were thirteen.

“Sorry, I’m listening. What did you tell Jessica?”

Max raised an eyebrow and smiled playfully, pausing her work on his nails. “So I told Jessica that if she invited Robbie to her party this weekend, she’d finally get the chance to make a move on him. Do you know what she said to that?” The ginger girl asked, rolling her eyes in comic resignation. Will hummed in false thought.

“She said she’d do it but then she decided against it at the last minute?” Max blew a strand of hair out of her face

“It’s almost as if you were there!” She exclaimed, amusement and annoyance obvious in her tone. “Honestly, I love Jess, but she’s so fucking clueless! I mean, if she just _ invite _ _ d _ _ him _ then she could get him alone and ask him out, right?” Will nodded. “I’m gonna smack her when Robbie gets a new girlfriend and she calls me to bitch about it.” Max rolled her eyes again and resumed braiding Will’s bracelet. The brunette giggled at his friend and smiled fondly at her.

“I’m shocked your eyes haven’t gotten stuck like that with how much you roll them!” Max jabbed him playfully as they both laughed.

“Shove off, Byers!” Max stood up from her bed, locking her door, and turning some music on. Billy, her older brother, wasn’t home but Will knew old habits that Max still had from the years of his abuse. Their relationship had been improving, partially thanks to Will and El, but Max was still traumatized. Will smiled and laid back on the bed, examining his new bracelet happily while soft music filled the room. Max flopped onto the bed beside him, looking over at him and taking his hand, squeezing gently. “You wanna go to her party on Sunday or do you wanna skip it?”

Will hummed in thought, smiling at Max. Recently, he had confided in Max about his social anxieties and Max had promised to not drag him to all of her social events against his will. There weren’t many, since the two were only fifteen, but it was the thought that counted. “Who’s going?” he asked, staring up at the ceiling. Max paused for a moment in thought before scrunching her face up.

“I heard Sinclair and his gang are going.” She grimaced as Will groaned. Sinclair, as in Lucas Sinclair, co-president of the AV Club alongside Mike Wheeler and Dustin Henderson. He had been obsessed with Max since she moved to Hawkins to the point she would call him “Stalker” when talking about or to him. She couldn’t stand him even on a good day. In Will’s opinion it was ridiculous since she had so much in common with Lucas with their love of video games, horror movies, and reading. It wasn’t really his place to judge though.

Will knew the AV Club a bit through El since she had befriended the group quickly once she started attended Hawkins Middle. Mike Wheeler had been the middle school pretty-boy and was now heartthrob of the entire highschool, Will included. He was tall with stunning eyes and freckles, and he often wore leather jackets over his arcade game or Dungeons and Dragons shirts. The black boots he often wore went about mid shin, made him an inch taller on top of his already infuriating 5’9 height, and they were often tied like Mike had been blind while tying them. His hair had gotten slightly curlier as he had gotten older and was now just the right balance of maintained and bedhead.

Wheeler ticked all of Will’s boxes and it was incredibly infuriating. Max teased him for his little crush relentlessly, especially since Wheeler was dating his step sister-to-be. “So I guess El is going?” Max asked curiously.

“She hasn’t mentioned anything yet,” Will looked over at her rolling his eyes, “but if Wheeler is going, she’ll probably be there yeah.” 

The ginger nodded at that, gazing back up at her ceiling. The slamming of a door had both teens sitting up abruptly, Max quickly turning the music off. Max’s stepdad Neil knocked on the door just in time for Will to unlock the door. He stepped in, looking at the two teens up and down and quickly surveying the room. Neil, although not verbal about it, didn’t trust Will and thought he would try and take advantage of Max while they were home alone. Will couldn’t exactly tell Neil he had nothing to fear, since Will was incredibly gay and not at all interested in Max, so the paranoia remained. “Hey there you two. Billy home yet?” He asked while Max shook her head no. He nodded, a certain look in his eye Will knew all too well: the look of a man who is preparing to hit his son. He’d seen it all too well right before Lonnie struck him or Johnathan growing up. 

Neil left the door wide open while Max and Will stared at each other for a moment before they both silently agreed to leave soon. Will didn’t like being in the house with Neil after he saw him hit Billy a year ago, and Max didn’t blame him. Neil was too similar to Lonnie for Will to be comfortable with him. 

Max called to Neil that she and Will were heading to the arcade, grabbing her skateboard and mini backpack. The bottom of her skateboard had been painted a vibrant sunset by Will when she complained about the original paint coming off. She rolled her board on the ground while Will picked up his bike. “Arcade?” She asked, slinging her backpack over both of her shoulders. Will nodded and they took off.

\---

Mike Wheeler was a normal guy.

He did got good grades, had a well-paying part time job on weekends, a loving girlfriend…

And the world's biggest idiots as his best friends.

“No Lucas. Absolutely not.”

“Mike, hear me out man-”  
  
“No I do not want to hear another shitty plan to go stalk Mad Max again just so you can try to approach her only for her to hit you with her skateboard.”

“Mike, it’s a good plan.”

“Since when do you side with him, Dustin?”

The curly haired boy took his hat off to run a hand through his hair, looking at the floor, fidgeting with the straps of his backpack. “Just… this plan actually includes separating her from her boyfriend? That's better than the last few plans.” Dustin mumbled. Mike still shook his head slowly in amazement. Lucas had had a crush on Max Mayfield since she moved to Hawkins but, for some miraculous reason, the three boys watched Max attach herself to shy, sweet Will Byers. Unassuming Will Byers who had blossomed once highschool started, now a bit taller, more muscle on his arms, and he smiled more. He still had the ridiculous bowl cut he had since Mike first noticed him in kindergarten but it suited him in a way. It worked apparently since, if the rumors were correct, he had been dating Max Mayfield for a while now.

Rumors at Hawkins High usually proved to be wrong but something about Max and Will had Lucas, Dustin, and Mike convinced, despite what El said, that they were definitely a couple. Girls never just “hung out” with Will Byers. He drew flowers on his notebooks, wore dirty shoes he painted on himself, and rarely spoke out in class despite actually being incredibly smart.

Which led to where the three boys were: standing outside the arcade in the warm early summer weather trying to decide if they were going to go Max Hunting as Dustin called it. It was hard to catch Max without Byers. The two were practically attached at the hip and it infuriated Lucas to no end. Mike glared at Lucas and Dustin, crossing his arms over his chest. “When you guys said you wanted to hang out, I had hoped it would be Max-free.” Lucas shrugged, clearly not worried about his friend’s annoyance, scanning the parking lot for a special redheaded girl with blue eyes and lots of freckles.

“Nothing’s girl free anymore, Mike. You of all people should know that.” Dustin shrugged as well. Mike rubbed his forehead in annoyance. Yes, Will was going to be El’s stepbrother when her adoptive father married Joyce Byers, everyone knew this. But there were a few problems with Lucas and Dustin’s occasional indirect accusations: why hadn’t Mike set up Lucas with Max if he knew her (and Will) through El?

Simple.

Will Byers hates Mike Wheeler.

To this day Mike is not sure why. Maybe it’s a brotherly instinct to protect his sister from the big bad boyfriend who might break her heart? Maybe it’s a grudge from second grade when Mike had accidentally spilled paint on the shorter boy? Or something else entirely, Mike didn’t know. What Mike did know was Byers stared at him often in class or even at lunch regardless if he had an arm around Max. Whenever Mike came over to the Byers’s to see El and Will answered the door it felt like he was staring into Mike’s soul before letting him in. It creeped him out a bit. El didn’t ever comment on it so maybe that was normal?

It’s not like Will even has the right to be rude to Mike anyways since his older brother has a weird photography fetish and likes photographing Mike’s older sister Nancy.

Stone Faced Will and Stalker Johnathan. Certainly sounds like a shitty hero duo.

As if on cue, Byers and Max arrived. The normal weekend arcade crowd is enough to keep the three out of their eyesight for a moment. Long enough for Byers to park his bike and the matching neon bracelets to be noticed by Lucas as they head inside. “What BOY wears a BRACELET like that?!” Lucas exclaimed once the door was shut. “It almost blinded me!”

Dustin snorted at the outburst and Mike rolled his eyes. “All the more reason to not go after those two.” Mike mumbled to himself. Lucas shot Mike a look and the three made their way inside. The arcade wasn’t overwhelmingly busy, but just busy enough that if Lucas chose to bail on his plan there was a chance Max and Byers wouldn’t even notice them there.

“Alright so here’s the plan,” Lucas began, pulling his friends to the side near the bathrooms, “Mike will go distract Byers while I go try and talk to Max. Dustin is in charge of keeping watch to keep-”

“Woah woah wait.” Mike interrupted, gesturing to where the two were playing some racing game. “Why am I in charge of distracting him and not Dustin? Have you two forgotten he HATES me?”

Lucas rolled his eyes at Mike’s overdramatics. “He doesn’t hate you dude. Will doesn’t really hate anyone.”

Dustin nodded, pulling out his walkie talkie from the worn backpack he always carried with him. “Besides, I know how we can distract Will.” He waved the walkie talkie playfully at Mike with a smile. Mike quickly shook his head.

“Dude, do NOT call El! That’ll piss him off and it’ll distract both him and Max!”

Dustin rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, putting the walkie back. Lucas gave Mike another Look. “So what’s your plan, Paladin?” Dustin asked while Mike scanned the arcade. His eyes landed on a vending machine with a variety of candies and sugary drinks inside. Pulling out a few bills, Mike approached the machine and bought a bag of M&Ms and a Coke. What kid could say no to chocolate and soda? Waving the treats at his friends, he slowly made his way through the arcade towards Will. Max was busying herself with Dig Dug and Will was playing Pinball nearby. 

“Hey Will, didn’t expect to see you here.” Will sideyed Mike for a brief moment before his eyes returned to his game. Mike stood and watched him play, the treats behind his back. Will’s score was actually pretty impressive but Mike didn’t know a lot about pinball anyways.

As the game’s “game over” flashed on a small screen on the machine, Will turned towards Mike and crossed his arms. “Do you need something?” Ouch. No smalltalk, got it. Mike bit his lip and handed the soda and candy to Will, who’s eyes widened almost comically before immediately looking suspicious.

“J-Just got extra stuff at the vending machine,” Mike shrugged, “and I figured you would want it?” Will blinked up at Mike and gently took the snacks. A quick glance over Will’s shoulder and Mike could see Lucas attempting to talk to Max who appeared too busy with her game to look at him. Dustin was playing Pac-Man nearby and seemed to be Lucas’s wingman. Will cleared his throat and Mike quickly looked at Will.

“Thanks...Mike.” Will mumbled appearing...flustered? Mike smiled a bit and shrugged.

“Don’t sweat it dude. You uhh… wanna play a couple rounds of Dragon’s Lair with me?” Dragon’s Lair was a couple rows from Pac-Man so they wouldn’t have to see Lucas’s ridiculous flirting and Max pretending like she didn’t think his jokes were funny. Will seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding and following Mike towards Dragon’s Lair.

Will stood beside Mike, eating the candy while the taller boy played the first round. He took the time to observe Mike’s skills at the game as well as his profile. They were standing close enough that Will could see the bright screen reflecting on Mike’s warm brown eyes and see how he made faces of annoyance as he killed enemies. Will felt his face warm up as he continued examining the other boy before taking a large drink of his soda. He had known he was gay for a couple of years now. Max and Johnathan knew but Will tried to keep it on the downlow. Staring at Mike was not keeping it on the downlow, he decided.

Shaking his head and trying to will some of the red out of his cheeks, Will looked over to where he’d left Max. She seemed to have challenged Lucas and Dustin to Pac-Man again. Will smiled fondly at the memory of Max challenging Lucas with, “You can take me on a date if you score higher than me at Pac-Man!” Seems like Lucas is taking her up on that challenge once again, but Will imagined it wouldn’t go well. As far as he knew, there wasn’t anyone in Hawkins who could get a higher score than Mad Max on any arcade game.

Mike noticed Will staring at the three crowded around the arcade game and panicked for a moment. “Dude, I’m sorry, I know Lucas shouldn’t be hitting on your girlfriend but he’s stupid and-”

“_My girlfriend?!_” 

Mike and Will stared at each other in shock for a few seconds. The sound of Mike’s character being hit in game broke their eye contact and Mike went back to killing enemies. “Well, yeah dude. Everyone in school knows you guys are dating. It’s not a secret…”

If Will had been drinking the soda, he would have spit it out. “Max and I are NOT dating. We’re just best friends.” He gestured to the bracelet on his wrist, looking confused. People thought he and Max were dating? Mike snorted at the bracelet.

“Well, I’ll let Lucas know I guess. He’s been real bent outta shape since the rumors started.” Will shook his head a bit, stuffing the empty candy wrapper into his pocket, gently tossing the soda to himself before opening it.

“I’m not remotely interested in Max... but if someone were,” Mike glanced over, a smile growing on his face, “she really loves KitKats and extremely buttered popcorn. She’s also interested in seeing ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ this weekend but I’m suddenly unavailable...” Will trailed off near the end, smiling at Mike and sipping on his soda.

“I bet Lucas can take one for the team and go with her.” Mike said, stepping back from the game flashing a “game over.” Will nodded, snorting a bit to himself. The shouts of Lucas and Max could be heard even four rows down. The two boys made their way back over and were shocked to see Lucas looking triumphant, Max angrily protesting, and Dustin smiling proud.

“It was a lucky fucking shot, Sinclair, it didn’t mean anything!” Max exclaimed, shoving his arm as Lucas laughed.

“‘Lucky shot’ she says! You’re just mad I finally beat you!” Lucas cheered, looking over at Mike and Will before looking nervous. “Sorry Byers, I’m taking your girlfriend on a date.” Mike opened his mouth to protest but Will spoke up.

“She isn’t my girlfriend but she IS available this weekend to see a movie this weekend.” He smirked, taking a sip from his soda. Max shot Will a look of betrayal while Lucas turned to smile at Max.

“How about it, Mad Max? You wanna go see a movie?” Max rolled her eyes dramatically as she turned to look up at him and scowl.

“A deal’s a deal I suppose…” She muttered. He fistpumped the air and grabbed Dustin’s arm to leave.

“I’ll pick you up on Saturday at 2:30!” Lucas shouted, pulling Dustin out of the arcade and calling to Mike to follow. Meanwhile, Mike blinked in shock before turning to Will.

“Lucas got a date with Max, right? That wasn’t just in my head?”

Will snorted, crunching up the now empty soda can and following Max further into the arcade. Mike’s voice caught his attention before he could get too far though.

“See you around Byers?” Will turned toward Mike who was near the front of the row. The soft tone he used wasn’t normally how Mike spoke, let alone to Will.

Will shrugged a bit as he blushed. “Sure, I guess.” Mike seemed satisfied by this judging by the smile he gave Will before running off after Dustin and Lucas. 

“I can’t BELIEVE he beat me!” Max whined once he had left. Will turned quickly and leaned against Joust. A revolation hit him as he looked at Max, flustered and glaring at her game.

“Did you _ lose _ Max? Or did you _ let _ him win?”

Slowly, a smile grew on Max’s face as she turned to look at Will. “Maybe I let him.”

\---

Will parked his bike outside his house and took a deep breath. He stared up at his front door in thought, internally dreading going inside. Lonnie would sometimes just enter Joyce’s house to get things like money or food. Slowly, Will opened the door and felt relief wash over him when he saw El sitting on the couch watching TV and the faint sound of music coming from Johnathan’s room.

“Dad’s out at work and Mom is looking at houses.” El said, not even looking up from the TV. That made sense, his mom HAD been looking for a bigger house recently. Somewhere with more bedrooms so El didn’t have to sleep on the couch. Will plopped down next to her, quickly getting her attention. She lit up and threw herself at him for hugs and retellings of clothes shopping with Joyce earlier that afternoon. 

That explained why she hadn’t been with Mike at the arcade. The thought of Mike brought a flush back to Will’s cheeks. Usually he avoided the Wheeler boy if he could. Mike was unfairly attractive and exactly Will’s type and Max always said it was “torture” watching El hang off of Mike when he could be Will’s boy. Will always shut down that idea because, as nice as the idea was, Mike was definitely not into boys let alone Will. El was dramatically gesturing around, saying something about a woman who was wearing her bathing suit while shopping when Will spoke up.

“Hey, El?” Will sat back, looking at her. She paused and tilted her head a bit, kind of like a curious puppy. 

“Yeah?”

“Has...anyone ever told you about gay people?” Her previous family never explained it to her since she was never allowed outside the house but perhaps Jim or Mike or SOMEONE had explained it to her.

She hummed for a moment and shrugged. “Mike may have mentioned the word a few times but I’m not sure. Why?” Always so innocent and nice. Will sighed softly.

“Well, when you’re gay, it means you like the same gender as your own. Like if a boy likes a boy or a girl likes a girl.” He tried to explain it simply enough for her to understand. She seemed to understand as she nodded.

“Okay. What about it?”

Will took a slow, deep breath, not looking up at her. “I’m...gay. I like other boys.”

For a moment, the only sound came from the television and the faint sounds of The Cure coming from Johnathan’s room. El reached forward and took Will’s hand, squeezing it carefully.

“That’s okay Will. I’m glad you told me.” She smiled at him. Clearly unsure what to make of the information she had now, Will squeezed her hand back, smiling at her.

“Can you...keep it a secret from mom and Jim for a while? I want to tell them myself when I’m ready.” El nodded, smiling and leaning forward to rest on Will’s shoulder. The two watched TV in silence for a bit, cuddled together until Joyce and Jim came home ranting to each other about house prices in Hawkins while preparing dinner.

When the phone started ringing, Jim was closer so he answered it. Will wasn’t really surprised when he told him the phone was for him. Probably Max needing to rant to Will about how nervous she was for Saturday despite it only being a Tuesday. 

So it was surprising when he heard Mike’s voice.

“Hey Will!” Mike’s cheerful voice rang through the speaker.

Will leaned against the wall like he was going to fall over. Why was Mike calling?

“Why did you call?”

Mike was quiet for a moment before he spoke again, still sounding cheerful. “Well Lucas is going on a date with Max this weekend and Dustin promised his mom they’d spend time together. That leaves you.”

Will blinked several times. “What about El?” He asked quietly, clearly confused.

Mike sighed and ran a hand through his hair, biting his lip and gripping the phone tighter. “Jim’s got me on probation since he caught us kissing last time so I’m only allowed to see her when he’s there…” Will snorted as he started laughing. “Don’t laugh! God, I’m gonna hang up.” Mike threatened. It was an empty threat but he didn’t have to admit it to himself.

“What would we do?” Will asked through giggles. Mike drummed his fingers against the receiver in thought.

“There’s some new cafe place that opened up. Dustin’s brother works there, we can get lunch and a discount?” Steve Harrington wasn’t actually Dustin’s brother but that wasn’t important. He’d give them a discount and who didn’t like cheap food?

Will hummed and pressed the phone to his shoulder. “Hey mom?”

“Yes, Will?” Joyce called over running water.

“Can I go out with a friend on Saturday?” Joyce gave Will a smile.

“You don’t have to ask hun, you know I’ll always say yes. Are you and Max going to Jessica’s party on Sunday too?” Will shrugged in response, holding the receiver back to his ear.

“Yeah, okay. Let’s go to a diner.”

Once Mike hung up after informing Will he’d come pick him up at 11 since he had a car, Will let out a huge sigh. Slowly a smile grew on his face and he felt himself blushing once again.

Seemed like Max wasn’t the only one with a date this weekend.


End file.
